Her Philosophie: Unbounded Bliss and Balance
At first glance, Sophie Jaffe seems like the woman who has it all – and she is: a beautiful wife, a mother of three, a business owner, and an influencer. However, just like any other family, her life was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and reexamined by the explosion of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Jaffe’s influence reaches far and wide, as the founder of health and wellness brand Philosophie and co-host of the popular IGNTD podcast. At a time when it is most crucial, she is ready to share her opinions and feelings with her family and the world. According to her, luckily, this year has provided the “perfect storm” for the family to “have dance parties and make videos,” “break bread together” – and ultimately learn and grow as a family. “We’ve been absorbing content, like documentaries or films, and pausing every 10 minutes so that we can share a conversation as a family, so they could ask questions and we could share our take on whatever the situation is,” she says of educating her children on racial injustice.
Moreover, Jaffe sees “both sides” of public reactions to the Black Lives Matter movement. “It’s a really interesting position to be in,” she adds. “I see what it can be like being a brand owner to swiftly pivot in these times, and as an influencer, I also see the pressure I’m putting on brands to step up and put substance behind their posts.” Being a public figure with a large platform, Jaffe possesses the power to hold influencers and brands accountable – to uplift Black voices on the podcast, and inspire her followers to take part and get educated. She says that many of her influencer friends “have half a million followers, and they’re not saying anything, they’re not trying,” and promises to hold them accountable because “that’s disrespectful to all of us.”
By hosting yoga classes online, Jaffe promotes well-being during this time of unrest while still encouraging her followers to take action and get involved in the current social-justice movement. On Juneteenth, the commemoration of the end of slavery, Philosophie took a portion of all sales from the day and contributed it to Black Lives Matter. Personally, she “can’t imagine not continuing down this path of activism,” passionately affirming that “whether it be about the environment, Black Lives Matter, politics, social justice, or spiritual activism, this is my heart, and I really can’t imagine going back to anything else.”
Together with her psychologist husband, Dr. Adi Jaffe, she is determined to maintain the momentum of the movement, through IGNTD, Philosophie, and their daily actions and practices as a family. “From the very first moment, my husband and I said, ‘We cannot let this die.’ We cannot let this movement stop like it has every other time where everyone puts something up for one or two weeks, and then it goes away. We need to talk about it until we don’t need to talk about it anymore,” says Jaffe, adding that she has “worked so hard for these platforms, and it’s time to share the spotlight.”
Writer: Sophia Mazurowski
Photographer & Videographer: Haldane Morris
Editor: Eiko Watanabe
Special thanks to EPK Media (@myepk & @epkmedia - epkmedia.com)